Shalom Yehudiel biography: 13 things about Fair Lawn, New Jersey chef

Shalom “Sal” Yehudiel is a Jewish restaurateur and chef from Fair Lawn, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. He is a congregant at Anshei Lubavitch in Fair Lawn.

An alumnus of The Art Institute of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Yehudiel owned two restaurants in Teaneck, Bergen County namely The Humble Toast and La Cucina di Nava. The Rabbinic Council of Bergen County provided kosher certification for the restaurants.

Yehudie is first Food Network show “Chopped” contestant who both keeps and cooks kosher. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. From 2008 to 2011, he studied culinary arts at The Art Institute of Phoenix.
2. From January 2012 to February 2013, he was an Arizona Balitmore sous chef in Phoenix. From May 2013 to June 2014, he was a Fox Restaurant Concepts sous chef in Phoenix.
3. From August 2014 to September 2015, he was the head chef at Patina Restaurant Group in California.
4. In March 2016, he allegedly started to groom Elisheva Akselrod, then 14, a fellow congregant at Anshei Lubavitch in Fair Lawn. Between November 2016 and April 2017, he allegedly sexually assaulted a child, then 14.
5. In April 2018, he opened The Humble Toast.
6. On September 22, 2020, he appeared on the Food Network show “Chopped”.
7. In January 2021, he opened La Cucina Di Nava. In the same month, he was sued and accused of assaulting Akselrod and a former employee when they were both underage. In April 2021, he was involved in Project Sarah’s annual breakfast, which was held to support those affected by domestic violence and sexual abuse. The participants were able to cook their own Shakshuka dish along with him.
8. In November 2021, he allegedly forced an underage girl employed in one of his restaurants to give him oral sex in his office shortly before protesters picketed the Humble Toast. That month, Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents seized the restaurant’s surveillance system and the Rabbinic Council of Bergen County banned him.
9. On March 16, 2022, he was arrested in Newark, New Jersey and criminally charged with raping a minor in November 2021.
10. In September 2022, he sold the Humble Toast and La Cucina Di Nava.
11. On January 31, 2023, he was formally indicted in the criminal case involving the allegation that he raped a minor in November 2021. Through his attorneys, he pleaded not guilty.
12. On March 6, 2023, his attorneys filed a motion challenging the criminal indictment as unconstitutional because Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office failed to show the grand jury the overall surveillance footage from the Humble Toast’s surveillance system seized in November 2021, which the attorneys believe will prove his accuser’s story wrong. On August 7, 2023, Bergen County Superior Court Judge Christopher Kazlau ruled in his favor and dismissed the charges against him without prejudice.
13. He was 40 years old when he was arrested on August 8, 2023 as he was trying to leave JFT Airport in Queens, New York City to head to Bangkok, Thailand and charged with second-degree sexual assault and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for assaulting a child between November 2016 and April 2017. He is in custody in New York City awaiting extradition.

***Update on Shalom Yehudiel***

After the indictment in his criminal case was dismissed yesterday afternoon, Shalom Yehudiel was rearrested today at JFK Airport on charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted Elisheva Akselrod at Anshei Lubavitch in Fairlawn when she was 15. pic.twitter.com/s2XhT7axt8

— ZA'AKAH – Crying Out for the Silenced (@ZAAKAHNY) August 8, 2023